1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to self-service kiosks and more particularly relates to self-service kiosks having a remote self-service airline check-in system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to engage in passenger check-in at airports. This has become a very expensive process for two major reasons. The first of these is the need for enhanced security in view of world events. As a result, the security resources, procedures, equipment, and personnel have continued to increase. This is likely to be a long term problem rather than one which simply corresponds to the current mood of the populace.
A second concern is increase of the personnel costs associated with passenger check-in. To be sure, this includes security matters, but it also involves issuing tickets, boarding passes, baggage claim checks, etc. all within expanding passenger expectations of flexibility, service, speed, efficiency, etc. Thus, the central focus for both of these concerns is personnel cost.
One of the functions of passenger check-in is passenger identification. The prior art tends to utilize various user/customer identification methods. Most common is the use of various cards for identification. It has been common to utilize a drivers license or passport for such identification, because each contains a photograph of the person to whom it is issued. Experience has shown that there are two basic problems with this type of identification. First the nature of a photograph is such that identification decisions must, at the current state of the art, be made by a human security attendant. This increases the cost of and tends to slow the identification process.
In an attempt to solve this problem, banks and other financial institutions now is employ self-service Automatic Teller Machines (ATM's) which permit user/customers to deposit/withdraw and perform other types of banking transactions without the attention of a human security attendant or teller. This was originally implemented with an identification card having a magnetically readable code attached thereto.
The second problem of the photograph identification process was also experienced early on with the ATM process In either case, the identification cards became easy to duplicate and/or forge. Thus, additional information became required to produce a more secure process. For ATM's it is now customary for the user/customer to be assigned a unique Personal Identification Number (PIN) to be used in conjunction with a magnetically read identification card. For photographic identification, various other factors are now utilized, including a second identifier, visual profiling, etc.
Some more recent solutions to these two problems involve machine readable or near machine readable biometric identifiers. Ideally, the biometric identifier chosen is unique to a give individual, such as finger prints, along with being reliably machine readable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,277, issued to Hoffman, describes a system employing machine reading of fingerprints as the identifier. U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,012, issued to Hoffman et al., shows a finger print reader providing secure access to a computer system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,527, issued to Gullman et al. shows a different approach to the use of finger prints as an identifier.
Using current technology, fingerprints tend to be somewhat difficult to read automatically by machine, particularly for real time access to services. A technique holding more promise for real time machine identification is imaging of the iris. Using this approach, a real time image is typically compared with a previously stored image. Security access is granted upon a machine match of the stored and real time images. U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,596, issued to Wildes et al., discusses such an approach. An improved technique is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,096, issued to Mann et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Nevertheless, Mann et al. places substantial reliance on security operator activity.
If the passenger identification matter can be resolved with no or minimal airport personnel involvement, it would be ideal to perform various other check-in services in this automated manner. However, in addition to security concerns, passenger check-in typically involves access to proprietary data and performance of individualized processes for each of the major airline carriers. Furthermore, there arises the question of whether the passenger need be physically present at the airport to accomplish the check-in functions. This matter arises because of the crowding found at most airports during peak travel times.